A social-cultural program,
where cultural mediation and sport
are vectors of socialization and emancipation.
Many unaccompanied minors and young adults have taken to the road for various reasons, often without imagining the disasters that await them on the road. Like leaves in the wind, they fail here and must find integration, social ties, orientation, listening, a benevolent environment; a new home.
The name of the #JeSuis program has a double meaning in French: “I follow (suis) the others on the way to exile; now, here, it is a question of asserting oneself, of taking control of one’s destiny: I exist, I am (suis) among you.”
As much for the locals, this is an invitation to develop the notion of welcoming, of encounter, of accompaniment, and of grasping the richness of diversity – so that together, we can explore this precious resource of alterity.
Our conviction: mutual aid is not a one-sided virtue, it must break away from notions of economic dominance inherited from a bygone paradigm. #JeSuis aims to stimulate this collective potential as a positive value.
The approach
#JeSuis [I am] culture
In cooperation with artists, theaters, festivals, museums and cultural operators, we set up shared visits of performances, concerts and exhibitions accompanied by cultural mediation actions. Here, the encounter is natural and allows to contextualize the artistic process, to create new sensibilities, to exchange divergent points of view, to democratize access to culture in the French tradition of popular education.
#JeSuis [I am] dance
Experience a movement, become aware of your body and space, develop the link with others: a first discovery, or a participation in workshops for confirmed dancers, dance invites to meet, to a non-verbal expression and artistic practice.
#JeSuis [I am] art
Artistic workshops in the fields of photography, fine arts, animated film: a non-verbal means of expression to say what words cannot say.
#JeSuis [I am] sport
Practicing football together, going on a bike or hiking trip, learning to swim: sport connects us, makes us feel good and overcomes many divisions. Combined with the discovery of the Occitanie region and its heritage, or even with artistic outdoor performances, we invite you to a rich and entertaining shared experience.
The activities of #JeSuis are referenced in the REF AID application which offers essential information to displaced persons: food supply, accommodation, access to culture, legal issues… all in several languages, accessible from a smartphone.
#JeSuis [I am] leaner: camin’class
Many foreign adolescents cannot immediately be admitted to school, many have specific needs for academic support. With volunteers we offer tutoring sessions: French, foreign languages, mathematics … Depending on their skills, some young people in turn transmit.
Each one teach one!
#JeSuis [I am] professionnalization
Meetings with professionals from different fields – whether from culture or from other crafts or industries – are a discovery of new possibilities. Listening to testimonials, seizing unknown perspectives, or even joining a company as an intern or apprentice: so many opportunities to find your way and get out of a dead-en street. Several young people supported are now on work-study contracts.
Why this commitment, for a production company in the field of dance ?
Apart from producing, dissemination and companionship of companies, camin aktion creates aims to create a fertile ground for all to enjoy art and culture: no culture without cultivating the human.
From emerging to established artists, we work hard to make creative expression accessible, in a commitment to the decolonization of the arts. In the sense of transmission to the younger generations, our commitment also includes vocational training and apprenticeship. These are also the values of hiphop culture that we share, a movement to which many of the artists we support belong.
Living culture fully requires decent living conditions: we are committed to meeting people from here and newcomers through art and culture, so that the cultural experience is not reserved for an elite, but vector of encounter, solidarity and integration. We see interculturality and plurilingualism as skills to be cultivated.
In this sense, we produce the #JeSuis program, which is fully integrated into the Halle Tropisme (Montpellier) ecosystem, dedicated to creative professions in the social and solidarity economy.
Photos © Dirk Korell & David Gaulein-Stef
Institutional support
Solidarity partners 2022/23 (in progress)
